Danil Medvedev reached the final at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome after a 7-5 7-5 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second semifinal after rain delays.
Medvedev converted all four break points to improve his lead in his head -to-head matches against Tsitsipas to 8-4. The Russian player had never won a single matches in Rome before this year.
Medvedev set up a final against Holger Rune, who beat Casper Ruud in three sets in the first semifinal.
Medvedev won 30 out his 36 first serve points and faced just break points.
The Russian player earned his first break in the opening game and held three service games to take a 4-2 lead. Tsitsipas broke back in the eighth game to draw level to 4-4 before the match was interrupted by rain.
The match resumed in the night session Tsitsipas came back from 0-30 to hold serve for 5-4 before the match was interrupted by rain for the second time. Medvedev and Tsitsipas returned to the court one hour and 40 minutes later.
Medvedev held serve at 30 at 5-5. Tsitsipas led 40-0 in the 11th game before Medvedev reeled off five consecutive points to break serve after a double fault from Tsitsipas. Medvedev closed out the first set with a service winner after 56 minutes.
Medvedev earned an early break at the start of the second set. Tsitsipas broke back to draw level to 3-3 in the sixth game. The next four games went on serve. Tsitsipas served to force the second set at 5-5, but Medvedev earned the decisive break with a forehand down the line winner. The Russian player served for the match and held to 15 to secure his spot in the final.
“I enjoyed playing today. It was very tough with the rain delay. I warmed up like six or seven times, but actually sometimes it can throw you off, you can be be a little angry about the situation. Today, I don’t know why, I was just kind of laughing”, said Medvedev.
